Briefs

ClickZ News -- By Robyn Greenspan -- August 17, 2004

Researchers at AOL's Advertising.com found a definitive link between behaviorally targeted online ads and click-through (CTR) and conversion rates. The study, comprising 500 million impressions, examined three separate ad campaigns with the results indicating that users were most responsive to ads that drew upon their online behavior. The company declined to divulge specifics about the advertisers or their business categories.

The study employed Advertising.com's LeadBack behavioral marketing technology that identified anonymous user behavior on advertisers' Web sites. Using this system, Advertising.com was able to identify users that did not complete advertisers' registration forms or make purchases. These behavioral observations allowed Advertising.com to serve customized ads to these users as they visited other sites across the network.

The goal of Advertiser A's campaign was to drive visitors to the advertiser's Web site to complete a registration form. Through 360 million impressions, Advertiser A experienced a 192 percent improvement in CTR, and a 167 percent improvement in conversion rate. In addition to achieving the desired results, Advertiser A improved the effective cost-per-thousand (CPM) rate by 167 percent.

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